Richmond from Miller's Barn

In 1798 the legislature let the court move onto Revolutionary War veteran Col. John Miller's land along Otter Creek; Milford partisans fought the change (local lore still names Dave Kennedy vs. William Kearly), and the county paid angry residents before carting records to Miller's barn.

On July 4, 1798, trustees named the new seat Richmond for Miller's Virginia birthplace, surveyed fifty acres into lots, and built Tyra Rodes's brick courthouse on the barn site in 1799. Richmond incorporated in 1809.